Week 1 on Intermittent Fasting – Things I´ve learned

Two days ago, I finished my first week of intermittent fasting(IF)/O.M.A.D! Yes, that little project.

On the first two days (Monday and Tuesday), as mentioned in my earlier post, I was doing O.M.A.D then by Wednesday, I switched over to IF. I think I have started getting used to it. During the weekend, I considered just eating normally if it got too hard, but yeah, I pulled through! And to be honest, by Sunday, it wasn´t as hard at all.

Yesterday, I broke my fast at 13:00 and I didn´t have as strong need to run to the fridge, I ate my meal, and just a few bites more and then went for my walk. I hear that many, who happen to be in the fitness world, choose to workout in fasting stage, but I only managed to do it yesterday /day 8. It was only a quick home workout though and a bike to town later on in the day. I felt fine actually, because I am used to waking up early and working out before breakfast, but never after so many hours fasting. Also, I am still purposely keeping my fitness routine on the low for these first few days.

Before I forget however, I wanted to note down the things I have learned this week so far

• I feel more and more aware of my hunger (what it is and what it isn´t)
• I am glad I didn´t put too much pressure on myself (what to eat and not eat) the first week but to just get used to being in my body, listening to its signals during the fasting hours
• I feel more in tuned with my body (always good)
• It took 3-4 days before my energy in the morning got balanced (really happy about that!)
• Still learning even more about how much of an emotional eater I am/was
• Again, food tastes so much better when you have given your taste buds a break! Really!

This has been my greatest experience with fasting. It is teaching me about my relationship to food in so many ways. Even by being able to ask when I think of eating; “wait, am I really really hungry?” Often, the answer was a resounding “no” or at least “not really”.  Before however, I would have just eaten away, with little to no consideration of what I really needed or why I suddenly felt peckish (often it was boredom or frustration or need of instant comfort).

So what next:

Well, I feel like I would like to see what else I can learn from this, so I plan on continuing it a little longer. I would really like to rewire my connection to food.  ALSO! I´ve been enjoying making food (especially baking) so much more! So, sometimes that´s something beautiful we get to learn when we take breaks from things; a new perspective on, sometimes, mundane daily tasks. Which has been to the advantage of both my sister and her boyfriend but also the sadness of my partner in Brazil, since I constantly send him meal photos of my latest creations, which he sadly isn´t able to enjoy with me (yet!).

Anyway, so far, I would recommend this journey for anyone wanting to also “reset” their eating habits and relationship to food. Perhaps also, it´s a great/gentle step into the ” fasting world”  if you ever needed to do that at some point.

If you are reading this, I wish you well and I’ll see you in my next post!

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